Race Director’s Report – 10Peaks™ The Lakes 2017

Taking on an event that has built up a great reputation and a loyal following is never going to be an easy task, and I’ll admit to feeling a little nervous as the days ticked down to our first 10Peaks in the Lake District this June. Paul Smith who started 10Peaks The Lakes, and Mark Bottomley who organised 10Peaks Brecon Beacons were both due to take part.

When we took on the two 10Peaks events at the end of 2016, we decided to change very little for 2017, and adopt an approach of organising the first event in the Lake District, before making any significant changes, if indeed, any changes were required.

We have a vision for where the ‘event brand’ could go in the future, and we do have some very exciting plans for developing the existing races, and potentially some new 10Peaks events in 2018. If you are on our email database you’ll be the first to hear about the developments.

My role as the Race Director is multifaceted but safety, fluid logistics, and fairness are primary considerations. At 10Peaks The Lakes, safety is managed via safety monitoring of the GPS tracking data, and from information coming back from checkpoints and the three support points. We also have a dedicated First Response Team able to respond to any emergency as required (fortunately they had a quiet weekend). Fluid logistics for this event are really about making sure the support points and checkpoints are in place and ready for the leading runners, whilst also being there for the last runner. I’ll admit to feeling a little nervous as Andrew Berry stormed towards Scafell Pike, as our marshal team walked in… the marshals got there about 20 minutes before Andrew!

Fairness is important to me, and I strongly believe that ensuring that there is parity across the event and between all participants is key to long-term viability and good reputation of any event. I believe that being a good Race Director means stepping back from the moment, taking an overview and ensuring that the structure and parity of the event is maintained. That structure is created from many aspects of the event set up; the rules, the start/finish times, cut-offs, etc. all of which combine to give the event its identity. Without this structure, there would be no coherent event. This also means that I will not just change the rules adhoc. Whether this relates to someone missing registration, missing a mandatory kit item, missing the bus, or missing a cut-off, my role is occasionally to apply strict fairness and parity.

I am looking forward to sharing our plans for 10Peaks events with you all later this year.

Thanks to the Event Team

Always the most important ‘thank you’ of any event is the Event Team! For our first 10Peaks event, we had many of our regular Event Team members that are seasoned veterans of many other Ourea Events races, some new faces, and we were also fortunate to be joined by four experienced volunteers who had helped at previous 10Peaks events; their contribution was important for aiding the continuity of the event, as we took on the reigns from Paul Smith and Mark Bottomley. The event team was:

Abbi Forsyth

Alex Chesters

Becky Tate

Colin Harding

Duncan Kendrick

Emma Dent

Gary Tompsett

Graham Gristwood

Helen Samson

Ian Cowie

Janie Oates

Keith Montgomery

Mat Nelson

Matt Gemmell

Mike Hogan

Rick Pearce

Shane Ohly

Simon Dixon

Stewart Bondi

Stuart Smith

Sue Dowker

Tom Hecht

Tom Withers

Prize Winners – Long Course

1st Female: Fiona Marley Paterson (11th overall)

2nd Female: Julie Fewster (34th overall)

3rd Female: Ruth Dance (35th overall)

1st Male: Andrew Berry

2nd Male: Scott Morley

3rd Male: Tony Holland

Prize Winners – Short Course

1st Female: Lorna Young (18th Overall)

2nd Female: Maddy Heginbotham (=19th overall)

3rd Female: Jessica Spears (25th overall)

1st Male: Alan Lucker

2nd Male: Mark Potts

3rd Male: Chris Sandison

Course Statistics

Long Course

Entries: 109

Starters: 94

Finishers: 56

% Finish Rate: 59%

Short Course

Entries: 126

Starters: 108

Finishers: 84

% Finish Rate: 77%

GPS Tracks

All the participants’ GPS tracks are public and available for download for everyone to view (link is to a zip-file download of all tracks – sorry it’s not compatible with mobile devices)

Live replay here:

Configure your ‘favourites’ via the cog to explore the live replay of the event (desktop only)

Social Media

Please check out our Facebook page to re-watch highlights of the action from ‘The Lakes’ in both photos and videos – and don’t hesitate to tag all those known to you in photos, share posts and your photos from the event.

Don’t forget to have a browse through both our Instagram and Twitter profiles too and follow to keep up to date ahead of 2018!

10Peaks Brecon Beacons

We hope you enjoyed 10Peaks The Lakes, and will consider joining us in South Wales on the 9th September 2017 for 10Peaks Brecon Beacons. The event is based from the beautiful and remote YHA Dan y Wenallt, with two incredible courses traversing the finest mountains of South Wales. Like our Lakes event, 10Peaks Brecon Beacons now includes GPS tracking, so your friends and family will be able to watch your exploits from the comfort of their home/pub/ etc.

Feedback

Feedback from anyone who engaged with the 2017 race, from participants through to audiences keeping updated via news/social media/tracking from afar, is very important to us. Whatever you have to say, positive or negative we are keen to hear your thoughts. This is so important for us in refining and improving the event. Certainly, the honest feedback we have received over the years has been instrumental in polishing our other events. So, please don’t be shy and get in touch with your comments.

The inaugural Salomon Ben Nevis Ultra proved to be a massive test of runner’s determination with the unusually wet summer making conditions tough under foot, for the ~120km race through Scottish Glens, and over the UK’s highest mountain; Ben Nevis. Edinburgh athlete Donald Campbell won the men’s race, with Nepal’s Mira Rai dominating the women’s race to finish 5th overall.

The 2017 event is a wrap! Thanks for coming – how did you find it?
Maybe you missed out this year – fancy joining us in 2018?
Entries are open!
Thank you SILVA + supported by Harvey Maps, Lyon Equipment, The Climbers Shop, Joey’s Café, Trail Running magazine UK, National Trust Lake District